Hafsah Aneela Bashir, Andrew McMillan & Reshma Ruia.
1-14 November
What does Oxford Road mean to you? For Hafsah Aneela Bashir it’s attending university and growing into her own skin. For Andrew McMillan it’s a geographical portal into the past and memories of love. For Reshma Ruia it’s the rich tapestry of people and buildings from The Whitworth to The Refuge hotel. MLF and the Manchester Poetry Library have co-commissioned these three fantastic poets to create new micro-commissions for the first Corridor of Light Festival. Watch film footage of them performing their poems on location and discussing their work, imagination and Manchester.
You can see the full MLF LIVE and MLF DIGITAL programme here: https://www.manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/events.

See Reshma’s film here:

Reshma Ruia: Postcards from Oxford Road from Manchester Literature Festival on Vimeo.

Sunday 31 October 5:00-6:00pm
Join us to celebrate the SI Leeds Literary Prize, which reaches its tenth year in 2022.

Tuesday 12 October 7:30-8:30pm
The launch of my debut short story collection, Mrs Pinto Drives to Happiness.

Thursday 7 October 5:30pm – readings from 6:00pm
An evening of wine and words on water.

Saturday 25 September | 10.30am-6.30 pm
In this session I talked about the craft of short story writing and the process of putting together my collection, Mrs Pinto Drives to Happiness, which will be published by Dahlia Books in October.

June-August ’21
Write a Poem From Scratch
with Reshma Ruia
Tuesday 20 July | 7:00 pm BST / 2:00 pm ET
In this interactive session, Reshma Ruia went beyond the technicalities of structure and syntax and talked about the joy one can find in using everyday language to create a poem and provide tips on writing, editing and performing poetry. The session included writing exercises and links for further reading.

Multiculturalism and the South Asian Writer
Are South Asian writers defined by their heritage?
Tuesday 20 July | 5.00-6.00 pm

Sunday 27 June 2:15-3:15 pm
Multi-Cultural Storytelling
This one-hour talk focused on writing about various cultures and different genders with empathy and sensitivity. Reshma drew upon her own writing and gave other examples to show how a writer can use his or her imagination and research to build an authentic world that the reader can relate to or discover afresh. It is all too easy to revert to cultural stereotypes and over-simplification and she suggested ways in which one can avoid this and also not fall into the trap of cultural appropriation. The talk was followed by a Q&A.

Saturday 8 May 3:00-4:00 pm
Delighted to be discussing truth and stereotypes in Asian writing with my fellow Whole Kahani writers at the Stay at Home! Literary Festival.

Here is the link to our lively discussion about being BAME and writing beyond and across a label.

Sunday December 20 | 6:00pm
As we bid adieu to what could only be described as a challenging, painful year, we looked ahead to a better, brighter future. We carried with us the hope, the love, the tenderness and also the pain we experienced since the Pandemic brutally altered our landscape. These variables are our wealth, a harvest that we will use to sow again a better tomorrow. We pondered over the meaning of wealth. What does wealth signify to us – is it a monetary or an emotional or experiential term? How do we receive it, how do we distribute it? We had an interactive session where I provided some writing prompts to help us create our own unique form of wealth. I also read from my poetry collection, A Dinner Party in the Home Counties and explored how different poems define wealth.

Friday October 16 | 8:00pm Zoom

Saturday 3 October 10.30-12.30 on Zoom.
Finding the Voice: poetry writing and performance with Reshma Ruia
In this writing workshop helped participants find their creative voice and prepared them for sharing their work with a larger audience. The workshop employed writing prompts on a wide variety of poetic/short story themes.
I discussed techniques used to enhance performance, such as intonation, tone, tempo, and volume.

18 July  – 17 August
Proud to feature in South Asian Heritage Month – celebrating and raising the profile of British South Asian history, arts, culture & heritage.

Thursday 11 June | 8:30 – 10:30pm
An online evening of poetry and stories. A webinar for people to sit back and enjoy this most ancient, and current, of arts from the comfort of their living rooms!

Online literary festival, founded by Dr Pragya Agarwal, bringing authors of South Asian origin together in a four-day celebration from 28-31 May.
All events are FREE and live via zoom. All timings are in British Standard Time (BST).
Join me on Saturday, 30th May, 3.30 to 4.30 pm when I will be discussing short stories with Jenny Bhatt and Sayantani Dasgupta. The event is free but please register via Eventbrite.